How to Know Your Skin Undertone

Do you know for sure what your skin tone is?

If that expensive bottle of foundation you bought makes you look ashen or orange after application, you probably have not bought the right match for your skin undertone. Undertones are not to be confused with your complexion. Your complexion – dark, tan, olive, fair, ivory etc, is the surface color of your skin. But undertones are the color visible beneath the surface of the skin and they can be neutral, cool or warm. Two people with the same fair complexion can have two different skin undertones. Choosing the right color foundation or even clothes can make you look great or not, and wrong colors can make you look pale and sallow.

For today I have some tips on how you can confirm your real skin undertone – the easy way.

The metal test: Stand in front of the mirror, wearing a white bathrobe and wrap your head in a white towel. Hold silver jewelry up against your face and see if it flatters your skin. If it does, you have a cool undertone. Now if gold jewellery flatters you while wearing the same bathrobe and towel, you have a warm skin undertone.

The vein test: Look at the veins that are visible under your skin. Some people have bluish-purple veins and that means they have a cool undertone. People with green veins have warm undertones. If you have bluish-green veins, it means you have a neutral undertone.

The foundation test: While trying on a foundation swatch, make a note of how the foundations with pink or yellow undertones look on your skin. If you are neutral, either the pink or the yellow will look good. Warm undertones bloom with foundations that have hints of yellow, while cool skin tones look good with pink undertones.

Knowing your skin undertone, will make it easier for you to choose the right colors of make up and clothes. While colors like black and white flatter all, earth tones – orange, yellow, gold, olive, brown etc., look great on people with warm undertones. Jewel tones like sapphire, emerald, magenta etc., are excellent for people with cool undertones. People with a neutral undertone can choose both these color families.

Do you check for your skin undertone the same way? Tell me about it below!